It might be almost the end of term but most weeks at our school/s there seems to be a fundraising event or two....cake sales, dressing up days, a sponsored x, y and z.
Money is raised for various children that we sponsor around the world, for the Yr6 end-of-year production, for charity.....
We also have Christmas and summer fairs that raise thousands, literally.
Give most people a goal, a challenge, issue a cry for help and - thankfully - most of us will step up & help.
People's capacity for generosity and willingness to help is ever-present and often overwhelming.
I have written before on my blog about the AMAZING Barb.
Barb is a 60-something lady who lives in Canada.
She went to Uganda, she happened to meet Edwin, a 20-something young man.
This was 2-3 years ago.
Edwin wanted to build a home for children in his local area.
Barb went back to Canada & baked banana bread.
An awful lot of it.
Slowly, the word began to spread.
Donations came in, a TV station got involved.
I wrote about it, not once but twice on my blog.
On my blog we raised USD$1000 & USD$800 for a generator for the home....amazing!!
The project grew & grew....
the generosity of people & the fundraising efforts have been astonishing....
Barb returns to Uganda in two weeks time & the first home for children
- a beautiful home for 32 orphans with HIV -
will be opened.
And the building of a second home is already underway.
Every cent, penny, dollar, euro was raised through fundraising....
the generosity of strangers who simply wanted to help people that they will most likely never meet.
Barb created a charity and a website through which it was possible for anyone to donate.
The gorgeous little boy above is Joseph....
he will be moving into the home when it opens & my family & I sponsor him.
He has been very ill & it is so wonderful to see him here with Edwin.
(He's also in the top photo with the green t-shirt & blue & red hat....just look at that shy smile, I can't even look at his face without tears filling my eyes).
My children still bring home sponsor forms from schools, which was how I used to raise money as a child....although these days there are all sorts of fundraising websites which enable us to raise money and contact friends/colleagues/contacts worldwide and, likewise, to be able to donate to any cause we want to anywhere, at anytime.
If there is a global crisis or a disaster, we can go online & donate immediately should we wish to do so....if a story touches you, you can so often find a way to help immediately & directly.
We have fantastic websites such as Kiva where we can actually invest & assist individuals or groups, enabling them to improve their lives. Through Kiva you can make a loan (I think the smallest amount is just USD$25, you receive a progress report & regular updates.
I've made lots of loans & every single one has been repaid, it's a great system.
Justgiving is one of the most popular & well-known fundraising sites, I've used it myself several times....you can email or text the link of your Justgiving site to anyone you want and once the donation is received, it is sent directly to the charity of your choice.
I recently read about someone in a really sad situation through absolutely no fault of their own....
I went online & made a donation.
This person lives thousands of miles away from me & if it hadn't been for the Justgiving site set up on their behalf, I would never have been able to offer some help in such a direct way.
And when I asked for help to enable me to help Barb, that wouldn't have been possible either.
Sites like these make reaching out that little bit easier & make the world seem that much smaller....
isn't that an incredible thing?
isn't that an incredible thing?
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